featured transaction:
The Grossman Companies, Inc.
Acquisition and construction of East Boston self-storage facilityAll transactions >
Service Areas
Trusts & Estates
Our Trusts & Estates Group is made up of attorneys with many years of experience in a wide range of estate planning and estate and trust administration matters.
Estate planning
In the estate planning area, the group keeps two priorities in mind when advising clients: how to leave property to beneficiaries with the minimum of tax consequences, and how to achieve the personal and family objectives of each client. The group is especially experienced in planning for the transfer of closely held businesses to the next generation of family members, and is well-versed in the full range of options, including trusts, lifetime gifts, life insurance, and employee stock ownership plans.
Our attorneys use a variety of documents to carry out a client’s estate plan, from simple wills to revocable or living trusts, from durable powers of attorney and health care proxies to life insurance trusts. In addition, our attorneys draft and advise clients on more specialized estate planning tools, such as generation-skipping trusts, irrevocable trusts, QTIP trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, charitable trusts, private foundations, education trusts, qualified sub-chapter S trusts, qualified domestic trusts for non-U.S. citizen spouses, prenuptial agreements, asset protection trusts, and Medicaid trusts.
Estate administration
In the estate and trust administration area, the Group handles estates and trusts of all sizes, and is experienced in every aspect of administration, including Probate Court filings, tax planning, preparation of estate tax returns, representation before the IRS and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, and preparation of fiduciary income tax returns. We have the skills and resources to settle estates and administer trusts quickly and efficiently.
Our attorneys also handle various proceedings in Probate Court such as guardianships, conservatorships, and will contests.
Representative matters
- Set up an irrevocable trust to hold over $20 million of life insurance used to purchase the stock of a famous Boston restaurant after the owner's death, thereby transferring ownership to the children and providing liquidity to the owner's estate and wife.
- Structured the sale of over $7 million of Chinese porcelains in Hong Kong, in connection with the administration of an estate.
- Drafted a charitable remainder unitrust leaving $1 million to the Museum of Fine Arts.
- Successfully petitioned the Probate Court to terminate an irrevocable trust, giving the life tenants and charities the actuarial value of their interests.
